


In Another Time

by Alicia



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Homophobia, Homosexuality, M/M, Sexual Content, Sexual Identity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-09
Updated: 2015-01-12
Packaged: 2018-03-05 09:38:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3115247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alicia/pseuds/Alicia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Going to Avalon University and becoming successful in life was always, and is, Arthur's dream, even though he has no idea of what he wants to major in. Come to think of it, he hardly knows what he wants at all- especially after he meets his new History professor, who also happens to be the most gorgeous man he's ever seen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings:  
> There will be explicit sexual content in this story. There will be explicit language, as well. This fic will contain homophobia, most of the sexual scenes will be m/m. Intoxication, violence, unprotected sex, and abuse may be referenced.  
> I don't really know what to expect out of this fic, given that I haven't written it yet, although I expect that it will be graphic. Because I don't want to limit myself as I write this, be ready to encounter anything as you read. I will update the warnings as I go if the fic begins to contain anything that isn't mentioned. If you have any that you think I should add as you read, feel free to comment and I will put it up! 
> 
> In General:  
> If there is anything you want to see in this fic, feel free to comment. I would love to have new ideas, and would enjoy reading where you want the story to go. I will try not to be too cliche, and will attempt to make it through this fic without offending anyone or slaughtering this story.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The other chapters will be MUCH longer, but I hate beginnings so I wanted to get the first one out of the way. But yeah, definitely expect my chapters to be a lot more lengthy in the future.

"Gwaine, pass me the ball!" Arthur yells as he runs down the field. He watches Gwaine pull his foot back, and then the football is flying towards him. Arthur smiles as he kicks the ball in response, and then watches as it moves through the two trees that they were using as their goal. He hears Leon and Elyan groaning in the background as he and Gwaine give each other high fives.

"Let's play to six instead of five." Elyan suggests, wiggling his eyebrows and smiling sheepishly. 

Before Arthur can respond, Gwaine puts his hand on Elyan's shoulder and smirks. "Mate, as much as I like kicking your arse, this is the second match we've played today. And Arthur and I won _both_ times." He clicks his tongue. "Gotta know when to give up." 

Leon shakes his head, laughing. "C'mon, what else are we going to do?"

"I don't know, we could always go visit Morgana." Gwaine winks at Leon, who blushes profusely and glances at Arthur, who teasingly scowls. 

"How about we play one more game- only to three, though. Loser buys lunch?" Arthur runs over to grab the ball after he speaks, and doesn't wait to hear his friends answer- he knows they'll all be up for one last game before eating. As he stoops to pick up the ball, he see's a man with a brown satchel hanging off his shoulder, standing near one of the benches while looking at his phone. Arthur stands up slowly as he picks up the ball, stalling for just long enough to admire the man's lanky, lean but still muscled body, and black hair. Even from far away, Arthur can tell the guy was gorgeous- he makes a mental note to look for him later on campus. 

After staring for just a moment longer, he turns back towards his friends and tosses them the ball. "Let's get this game going!" As he jogs back to them, Elyan nods towards the man. "Get a little flustered over there?"

Arthur smirks. "Just checking out the options." 

Elyan chuckles. "Second day of University, and you're already looking for a lay?"

"Nah, that guy over there? Definitely worth more than a one night stand." He laughs as Elyan grimaces a bit. "What, too much information?

Before he hears Elyan's reply, the ball is on the ground and moving, and both of them are off- Elyan trying to get in an open position that Leon can pass to, and Arthur doing everything in his power to block him. 

However, Leon ends up not passing it anyway, and, with an overzealous attempt at kicking, the ball goes soaring- not only through the two trees, but _all_ the way to the sidewalk, and then, to Arthur's partial horror and delight, to his black haired beauty's feet.

The man startles, and then glances down at the ball like he doesn't really know what to do with it. It looks like he considers hitting it towards us with his foot, but then thinks better of it, picks it up and begins to walk over. Arthur get's butterflies in his stomach as he thinks "this is my chance", and his friends seem to agree because they don't join him as Arthur begins to jog to the man, attempting to meet him away from the others because he doesn't want them saying anything embarrassing. 

"Hey, sorry about that." He says as he stops in front of the guy. His hair ends up not being black, but a shade of brown that makes Arthur think of dark chocolate. His eyes are a stunning blue, and they remind him of a sea filled with ice, even though the gaze itself looks warm and happy.

"No harm done." He smiles as he hands the ball over. 

Arthur takes it from him, and then holds out his hand after tucking the ball under his arm. "I'm Arthur."

The man laughs, and has a look on his face that makes it seem like he knows something Arthur doesn't. "Well, It's nice to meet you, Arthur. I'm Merlin." 

"Merlin?" Arthur questions. 

Merlin starts laughing louder. "Don't worry, the irony of my name being Merlin and yours being Arthur isn't lost on me." 

Arthur raises a corner of his lip in a half smile. "I'm missing something, aren't I?" He says, not understanding the irony of it at all.

Merlin nods once, a smirk on his face. "I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually. Anyway, I'm off- things to do." He gestures to his satchel as he begins to turn. He looks at Arthur one more time. "It was a pleasure."

Arthur coughs awkwardly, wondering if this would be a good time to get Merlin's number, but before he has the chance, Merlin is walking away and down the sidewalk. Arthur stands there for a moment, wondering what just happened, before he feels a hand on his shoulder. "Well mate, it looked like it was going fine until about the last ten seconds. But you tried." Gwaine smiles and meets his eyes as he takes the ball out from under Arthur's arm, and throws it back onto the field. 

When Arthur looks back, he can't see Merlin anymore, so he tells himself he'll find him another time and goes back to his game, hoping to win so that he won't have to buy lunch.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long, I'm really busy. I promise I'll try to update more often

It was going to be a good day. 

Arthur stretches in bed, and glances at his clock. To his delight, it's only nine in the morning. He smiles, realizing he doesn't have class until 11. 

He can definitely dig this college stuff. 

He rolls over and stands up slowly, not wanting to wake Leon who is sound asleep still. Already wearing sweat pants, he grabs a clean, plain black t-shirt and throws it over his head as he walks out of his room. He keeps his eyes open for Merlin as he walks down the hallway, hoping that the blue eyed, and completely gorgeous, man lives in close proximity to him. Merlin may have looked a bit older than Arthur, but he knew that sometimes, the older students would still live in the dorms. At the same time, Arthur hoped that he had a room off campus- maybe he even had an apartment on his own. 

Arthur keeps looking around as he walks, realizing that if he wants to get into the guys home, he should probably talk to him first. A good man-hunt should do the trick. He actually laughs out loud as he thinks about it, but begins to consider it as no other ideas come to mind. He pushes open the door to go outside and into the courtyard, and then pulls out his phone and texts Gwen. _Met a guy yesterday. Know his name, nothing else. Help me find him?_

Not even a minute later, he feels his phone buzz. _Are you proposing we try to stalk someone?_

Arthur sits down on one of the benches, smiling. _Kind of? Only minorly._

_Do I get free coffee if I help?_ Is her response.

Arthur knows he has her help, even if he says no to the coffee, but he tells her yes anyway and then asks her to meet him near his dorm. He sits there and waits for her, enjoying the sun as he does so. It's Wednesday, which means he has four classes today. Tomorrow, he has two, and on Friday he has only one. He planned out his class schedule so that he wouldn't have to worry about making it through the week- most of his classes were on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, which left the other days open for partying and having a good time. Gwaine had made sure that both he and Arthur had their classes later on in the day on Thursday, and no classes on Friday, as a "hangover precaution".

Looking back, it was probably a good idea. Although he hadn't gotten drunk or partied at University yet, he knew it was only a matter of time. Usually, once people found out that he was a Pendragon, they did all that they could to get on his good side. His father owned and pretty much controlled Avalon University, as well as most of the minor schools and community colleges that were within a 100 mile radius. Knowing a guy such as Arthur meant that you wouldn't get into as much trouble if you did any dumb shit at school, or that you could have a friend that would get you a _great_ letter of recommendation by the one and only Uther Pendragon.

Needless to say, Arthur was sure he'd be getting invited to quite a lot of places once word of him being here spread around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Gwen arrives, Arthur stands up and gives her a hug. "You're looking gorgeous as always." She smiles and nudges him.

"Always quite the charmer, you are." He grins in return. Arthur and Gwen had dated for a few months while they were in high school- which was, in turn, one of the ways Arthur found that he may not be as interested in women as he was in men. However, Gwen had understood and they had stayed close friends even after the break up. 

"I try." He puts his hands on her shoulders, and puts his serious face on. "So, he's a guy. His name is Merlin, I think he's a bit taller than me, has _beautiful_ dark brown hair, blue eyes, and he's very lean. He was wearing a satchel when I saw him. He sounds like sex, and has a cute smile that brings out his cheekbones. He's extremely handsome."

Gwen raises her eyebrows. "Is he gay? Because if he isn't, just let me know. If he looks as good as he sounds, I'd be happy to take him off your hands."

Arthur laughs. "How about no? I called dibs. And he's definitely gay."

"You asked him?"

"No, but I saw the way he looked at me. _Totally_ checked me out."

"I check out girls all the time, that doesn't mean I want to sleep with them." Gwen shot back, teasingly.

"Well, if Merlin is sleeping with anyone, it's going to be me. Whether he's gay or not."

Gwen shakes her head no, chuckling. "In that case, let's go find this guy before you start pissing on everything that you want as your possession."

Arthur smirks, and gestures for her to lead the way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After two hours, Arthur still hadn't caught a glimpse of Merlin. He and Gwen sit at a small table outside a cafe on their campus, and Arthur sighs. "You know, it can't be that damn hard to find someone!"

Gwen giggles. "We've only started looking. He may even still be asleep, who knows. Maybe he's in a lecture."

Arthur perks up a bit. "You know, I still have a few classes today. You think he's in one of them? I mean, he looks a bit older than me, but some people start college later in life."

"Maybe he is." Gwen winks. "But it's a long shot."

Arthur wiggles his eyebrows. "It's a good thing I'm lucky, then."

 

A few hours later, Arthur was feeling a lot worse than before. Gwen had already said goodbye, and Arthur had been forced to go back to his dorm to pack up for his last few lectures of the day.

He looks down at his paper, following the directions to his French class. He walks inside the door, and scans the seats for a cute shade of brown hair, and spots one. His heart leaps into his throat, and he tries to put on a calm and collected exterior as he meanders towards him. He is just about to sit next to the man when he looks up, and Arthur is disappointed to see brown eyes- not blue ones. 

He sits down dejectedly, and pouts a bit. He barely pays attention to his first day of class, because he simply can't stop wanting to see Merlin. 'Maybe if I hadn't looked for him so hard it wouldn't be so bad now.' He thinks, wishing he had just let fate do it's thing and bring them together again like they had the first time. He felt like a girl, wanting to see a guy he barely said two words to- but he wanted to see Merlin again. He wanted to know what it would be like to go out to grab coffee, to go on study dates, to find out what Merlin likes, to kiss those lips, to have the satisfaction of getting him in his bed... 

Arthur sighs, running his hands through his hair. Looking back up at the board, he tries to shut off his thoughts, and listen to the lecture.

It isn't long before Arthur is heading out again, and to his last class of the week- history.

Arthur is sure he's going to hate it. He doesn't know what he wants to major in, but he knows what he doesn't- and that is definitely history. He didn't understand what was so great about it- learning from past mistakes is one thing, but actually studying what exactly happened and when? Just give him a few notes on what not to do in the future, and he was good. An entire class on the past seemed to be just a waste.

He sulks over to building 22b, and wonders idly if he could plug in his headphones and watch Netflix during the lecture. He pulls out his phone and opens the app as he walks into the class, and glances up once to see where he wants to sit. He is delighted to find that it's not too big of a classroom, being that there are only about fifty seats in the room. He chooses one of the middle chairs and plops down. A few minutes later, the class is almost full, and Arthur is sitting next to a brunette with shabby hair, and a bit of scruff. The guy leans over and holds out his hand. "I'm Lance."

Arthur takes it. "Arthur."

The guy nods. "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too." He replies, and then looks back down on his phone. 

He hears Lance chuckle. "I'm assuming History isn't your favorite subject, then?" Arthur distantly hears the classroom door open, and sees a shadow walk over to the professors desk.

"No, not particularly." 

Lance smiles. "It's not mine either."

Just as Arthur is about to respond, the professor clears his throat. "Hey, guys. I'm Professor Emrys, and since this is History, why don't we put all of that modern technology away." He chuckles slightly, and Arthur sighs, partially irritated. 

"I'm going to call out names, and I want you to walk down here once your name is called. I'm going to hand out a sort of remote, and this is how you'll take attendance for the rest of the year. When you get to class, just press the button, and I'll know you're here."

Arthur puts his phone in his pocket, and looks up towards the professor. 

His mouth drops open.

There, standing in baby blue pants, a salmon colored tucked in shirt, and a tan cardigan- with brown hair styled so it is just the perfect amount of wavy, a bit of stubble on his chin, and stunning blue eyes...

Is Merlin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know technically "minorly" isn't a word... but it is in my dictionary. Hope it didn't bother anyone too much (:


End file.
